Dangerous Whistleblowers

It is quite amazing how much money and effort is poured into catching a man who has contributed greatly to revealing the machinations of the government’s propaganda and war machine to the public. It is however symptomatic of the treatment meted out to the government critics who are considered most dangerous to the establishment. This is to say, those who provide the public with incontrovertible proof of the things that are done in its name under a cloak of secrecy, allegedly in the interest of “national security”.

Edward Snowden is certainly not hiding out in Moscow because he likes it there. He is hiding out there because he knows perfectly well what happens to whistleblowers under the Obama administration. Never has there been a more vindictive approach. The rule seems to be that it is not the criminals who are punished, but those who have revealed the criminal activity. We still remember how Mr. Obama asserted with a straight face: “I welcome the discussion (over the NSA)”. Actually, his face was not entirely straight: it looked like he had bitten into a lemon.

The small police presence in front of the Ecuadorean embassy, to ensure no evil thoughts can escape and infect the cattle.

Photo credit: Chris Helgren / Reuters

He neglected to mention a few details, such that there wouldn’t even have been a discussion if not for Mr. Snowden’s actions. He also neglected to mention that the US would definitely not be grateful to Mr. Snowden for having given the president this rare opportunity to have the discussion he allegedly “welcomes” so much. Most likely Snowden would be thrown into a brig and the key would be thrown away. As an aside, the discussion has had no tangible results, except for intimidating people into watching what they are saying. Other than that, nothing has changed – ubiquitous surveillance continues unabated

Mr. Assange is also a man numerous governments would like to “protect” us from, since his organization has undoubtedly made numerous tax cows think forbidden thoughts. The idea of “American exceptionalism” was severely dented by a Wikileaks video of a US helicopter in Iraq shooting at journalists, innocent bystanders and even those trying to help them (here is the video: Collateral Murder). One might be tempted to think that the Abu Ghraib photographs should have been sufficient to establish the essential characteristics of the Iraq war, but that piece of gruesome evidence was long blamed on “a few bad apples”. It seems though that the war was indeed just as dirty as the wars fought by others. It is no longer possible to claim “exceptionalism” in the face of routine slaughter accompanied by cynical comments and laughter (the “exceptionalism” theory asserts that it is fine for the “good guys” to slaughter assorted third world sub-humans for the “greater good”, and that they even love us for it).

Assange really irked the powers-that-be, so much that a rape case that by all appearances was fabricated was brought against him in Sweden (here is a summary of the event; there is a lot of nigh overwhelming circumstantial evidence indicating the case was indeed an attempt to frame him. It is easy to find a lot more information on this). Mind, we cannot be certain that he was framed; we just believe it is highly likely.

If getting him out of the way was the intention, it actually succeeded, insofar as he was forced to stop acting as the public face of Wikileaks, a role in which he had gained quite a bit of notoriety. There are many people speaking out against government deception and warmongering, but Assange was able to reach a very large audience – and although we can only speculate on this, that probably led to him being considered dangerous and in need of being taken out of the picture.

Let us just note here that in light of how whistleblowers have been treated ever since the Deep State has de facto taken over in the wake of the phony “war on terrorism”, one must admire the courage of people like Assange and Snowden, who have taken great personal risks to bring important information to the public’s attention.

Julian Assange in his “space station” office at the Ecuadorean embassy

Photo credit: Craig Hibbert

Government Waste

Mr. Assange has been holed up for some time in the Ecuadorian embassy in London so as to prevent his extradition to Sweden. Imagine yourself in his shoes, assuming that the charges are indeed trumped-up. You know you have been framed because you are considered a danger to the political elite and the security apparatus. Would you voluntarily surrender to those who evidently executed the frame-up?

Again, there is of course some uncertainty here – we cannot know for sure if he was framed. But we know one thing for certain: If we were in the man’s shoes and it was a frame-up (which he would of course know), we would not expect a “fair trial”. Once “the scum who inhabit the corridors of power” (to quote Justin Raimondo) have made it obvious that you are a target, you have every reason to fear for your future.

One indication that the powers-that-be are very eager indeed to get their mitts on Assange is the huge amount of UK taxpayer money wasted on watching the man to make sure he cannot escape from his embassy hideout. It goes to show that there is far more to the case than just the highly dubious official allegations. The operation has so far cost an incredible $15 million (10 million pound sterling) as reported in the Times:

“Julian Assange’s self-imposed confinement at the Ecuadorean embassy in London has cost the taxpayer £10 million in policing costs — and he shows no sign of leaving.

Mr Assange, 43, has been holed up at the embassy in Knightsbridge for nearly 1,000 days to escape extradition to Sweden. The WikiLeaks founder is being watched 24 hours a day by armed officers from the Metropolitan police diplomatic protection group. Mr Assange, an Australian national, said yesterday it was “shameful” that the Swedish authorities, who want to extradite him over sexual assault allegations were “prepared to allow his indefinite detention without charge”.

(emphasis added)

Well, indefinite detention without charge is the standard treatment for “enemy combatants”, isn’t it? Unless they are summarily executed without trial, judge or jury by a drone that is.

As Justin Raimondo explains (here is his comment and summary of the case), Sweden wants to prosecute Assange for something that wasn’t a crime when it happened. The prosecution apparently wants to make it a crime with the help of this high profile case (the intention is to enable women to assert retroactively that consensual sex was a rape, by claiming they were under undue psychological influence from their partner. No, we are not kidding). Of course there are other motives in play, which are probably better suited to explain the tenacity with which Assange is pursued on such a flimsy legal pretext. According to Raimondo:

“It’s a put up job, pure and simple, so brazen that one wonders how anyone – let alone a sitting judge outside of Zimbabwe, or Saudi Arabia – can entertain it with a straight face. And yet a British judge has indeed upheld the validity of the international arrest warrant, which went straight to the top of Interpol’s agenda as soon as it was issued: in the new world order, “sex by surprise” is on a par with being a mass murderer . In spite of having pledges of funding from prominent supporters, the judge denied Assange bail: and so the governments of the world have him where they want him – behind bars.

[…]

The extradition of Assange to Sweden would signal the final phase of Britain’s long slow slide into authoritarianism, an outcome that seems nearly inevitable for a society that imposes a draconian “speech code,” and has its population under constant surveillance. From there the plan is obviously to jail him in Sweden until the US can cook up a “legal” rationale to have him extradited for trial in the US

[…]

This is an issue that the ruling elite is counting on to plug the giant hole in their armor called the internet.

[…]

Assange is the first high-profile political prisoner in a new age of repression and fear. If he is martyred to the cause of liberty, let his bravery and determination serve as an example and an inspiration to us all. But we don’t need any more martyrs: we need living activists, like Assange, who are willing to take on the States of the world.

(emphasis added)

It is also interesting how the mainstream media keep retroactively editing articles on Assange that have appeared on the internet. Since most of them are essentially government mouthpieces, this is not very surprising, but it provides us with more clues as to how the power elite views the man and how eager it is to discredit him. It is worth noting that ever since Assange has been holed up in the embassy, the effectiveness of WikiLeaks has declined sharply. No major new revelations have seen the light of day since then.

Conclusion:

The fact that the UK has wasted $15 million on keeping an eye on Assange is telling. We happen to agree with Justin Raimondo’s characterization of the situation: Assange is effectively a political prisoner.

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Let us not forget that the then Australian Prime minister Julia Gillard (a trained lawyer) publicly pronounced him guilty (before any charges were laid) and offered him no consular assistance. (Australia like the UK is a US client state.)

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